Multiple members of the Biden administration are reportedly violating the law.
The officials have stayed in their positions beyond limits.
Many top Democrats are allegedly holding positions in defiance of federal law.
The Government Accountability Office issued five separate reports that Biden administration officials have exceeded the amount of time they can use the “acting” title and are serving in their positions unlawfully.
The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 “establishes requirements for temporarily filling vacant positions in Executive Branch agencies that require presidential appointment and Senate confirmation.”
The law limits officials serving in an acting capacity to 210 days after the role becomes vacant, or 300 days after a presidential inauguration.
“The act requires executive departments and agencies to report to the Congress and to the Comptroller General certain information about a vacancy immediately upon the occurrence of events specified in the act,” the GAO reported. “The act also provides that the Comptroller General is to report to specified congressional committees, the President, and the Office of Personnel Management if the Comptroller General determines that an acting officer is serving longer than permitted by the act.”
The GAO said the officials who have stayed in their positions beyond the limits of federal law are:
- Deidre Harrison, the acting Controller of the Office of Federal Financial Management within the White House Office of Management and Budget;
- Allison Randall, the acting Director of the DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women;
- Tae D. Johnson, the acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE);
- Karen Freeman, Craig Hart, and Ann Marie Yastishock, all of whom served as the Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Asia within the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID);
- Charlotte A. Dye, the acting General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority
This could open up the agencies to lawsuits and invalidate decisions and policies enacted by the acting officials who allegedly exceeded their time limits, according to the New York Post.
“If an individual who is neither the agency head nor acting in accordance with the act performs such functions or duties, those actions have no force and effect and may not be ratified,” the GAO explained.
“Harrison has served as acting Controller since March 2021. She was allowed to continue serving while a nominee was considered. But from August 2, 2022, she continued to serve in violation of the Act. Randall has served since May 26 in violation of the Act; Johnson has served since November 16, 2021; Dye has served since November 16, 2021. Freeman, Hart, and Yastishock combined served from November 16, 2021 until August 8, 2022, in violation of the law, the GAO found,” the Daily Wire reported.
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